Metal News for February 16, 2008

We post metal news every day, throughout the day, covering thousands of metal bands including underground and unsigned bands. You are currently browsing the news archive, but you can also find news by band.

26 news articles posted on this day.

"Hi, after I saw that Adam posted the wrong URL for Inferi, and also because whenever something like this happens the person involved says something, I decided to take it upon myself to post this for people to read."

"Yes, I have made the decision to leave Destroy Destroy Destroy, but it has nothing to do with "creative differences" or "bad blood" or anything remotely close. I am still in love with everyone in the band very much, which did not make the decision any easier.... and the new material is sweeter, epic-er and awesomer than ever."

"I've also never been in a band where everyone gets along so well, and even our worst shows were some of the best shows just because of the way we treated them and had fun the whole time no matter what.... this is a rare quality." More...

Ukrainian black metallers BALFOR will enter the Blacklight Studio in Kiev on February 19 to begin recording their next full-length album, entitled "Barbaric Blood". The CD will be mixed and mastered by Borge Finstad at Norway's Toproom Studio (MAYHEM, BORNAGAR, ARCTURUS, VINTERSORG, EXTOL, ULVER, TRISTANIA).

"Barbaric Blood" will be the follow-up to the 2006 "Pure Barbaric" mini-CD, which the band released for free download on a net label. Tracks from the mini-CD can be heard on the group's MySpace page.

This time the band will be looking for a label to release the album in the conventional way. BALFOR's founder, guitarist and vocalist Thorgeir commented: "Our previous releases had been conventional, but releasing the mini-CD on a net label served its purpose very well. We needed to get more exposure and get more people to listen to our music, and for that it was perfect. But we wouldn't want to go along that route for a full-length album. We still believe the traditional way is the best." More...

Relapse Records has announced the details for its 2008 South by Southwest (SXSW) label showcase. This showcase, the label's tenth consecutive at SXSW, will be held at Emo's Annex (600 Red River Street) on Thursday, March 13th and will be open to the public as well as SXSW badge-holders.

This year's line-up includes High On Fire (Oakland, CA), Genghis Tron (Philadelphia, PA), Coliseum (Louisville, KY), Vverevvolf Grehv (Omaha, NE), special guests Municipal Waste (Richmond, VA), and Austin's own Mala Suerte. Running order and show times are forthcoming.

Epic metal band Onsetcold's self-titled album is now available on Pre-order from the Aural music web store.

The label comments: "I am happy to announce that the extreme and epic metal band "ONSETCOLD" are to release their self titled album "ONSETCOLD" on Italian based label WormHoleDeath/Aural Music on the 7th march 2008 through distribution companies SPV, PLASTICHEAD, SEASON OF MIST, CMDISTRO and THE END RECORDS."

The tracklisting for "Onsetcold" is as follows:

Life without numbersNo sun no lifePsychopathMasterdomPale horseAfter the fire NeuroticRelentlessRitual human sacrificeServitude

Montreal’s BENEATH THE MASSACRE has just completed the band’s first ever European tour alongside Despised Icon and Misery Index. Frontman Elliot Desgagnes offers an update on the band: “So we just did our last show in Europe and we'd like to thank everyone that came to the shows, sang along, headbanged and had beers with us! We’ll be back soon enough! We of course would like to thank our bros in/with Despised Icon, Misery Index, Man Must Die and Annotation of an Autopsy for the good times. We are now getting ready for the headline tour in the US – can’t wait!”

BENEATH THE MASSACRE will depart on that headlining tour of the US with support from See You Next Tuesday, Born of Osiris and The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza. The full-length, ‘Mechanics of Dysfunction,’ saw a February 2007 release and has since sent the band out on the road across North America alongside Ion Dissonance, the Summer Slaughter tour with Necrophagist and Cattle Decapitation, and a tour with labelmates Through The Eyes of the Dead and As Blood Runs Black. The 10 new tracks were recorded and produced by Yannick St-Ammand (Despised Icon, Neuraxis), mixed by Pierre Rémillard (Cryptopsy,Krisiun) and mastered by Alan Douches (Dillinger Escape Plan, Shadows Fall) and ‘Mechanics of Dysfunction’ is the full-length follow-up to 2005’s highly praised five-track ‘Evidence of Inequity’ EP.

Bassist/vocalist Phil Rind of the reactivated Arizona thrashers SACRED REICH has issued the following update:

"So occasionally I will get on YouTube and cruise around looking for cool videos of bands I like. Then I will search SACRED REICH and see what's on there. There is a cool re-vid for 'The American Way'. There are also some bands doing covers of our songs that I get a kick out of. So I was thinking it would be cool if anyone posts a SACRED REICH-related video on YouTube we will pick one we like and put it on our MySpace page. It can be a re-vid, a cover, whatever as long as it is one of our songs. Be creative! Just post it on YouTube, put it under the heading 'Sacred Reich' and once a month we'll check it out and put our favorite up on our site. I like it!

"I think back to when we started, and had to send copies of our demo on cassette in the mail to anyone who heard of us from their friends or a fanzine. Now you can download songs, videos, whatever you want and it's all available with a few click of a mouse. How fortunate!

Classic footage of the original "Recognize No Authority"-era lineup of the California band DÉTENTE — Dawn Crosby, Steve Hochheiser, Dennis Butler, Ross Robinson and Caleb Quinn — performing the song "Life is Pain" in 1986 can be viewed here. According to the group, "The video was shot by the noted documentary cinematographer Baird Bryant (ROLLING STONES' 'Gimme Shelter'). DÉTENTE has a long history of talented individuals helping their cause!"

As previously reported, vocalist Ann Boleyn (HELLION) and guitarist Juan Garcia (AGENT STEEL) have joined forces with original DÉTENTE members Dennis Butler (drums), Caleb Quinn (guitar) and Steve Hochheiser (bass) to perform as DÉTENTE at this year's installment of the Headbangers Open Air festival, set to take place July 24-26, 2008 in Brande-Hörnerkirchen, Germany. The band will also play select dates in the U.S, to be announced soon.

DÉTENTE's classic album "Recognize No Authority" was reissued in July 2007 via MVD Audio. More...

A new track from ENDSTILLE, entitled "Endstilles Reich", has been made available for download at this location. The song is the title cut of the group's new album, which was released on October 15, 2007 via Regain Records. The CD was recorded at JAKs-Hell studio, like all previous ENDSTILLE albums, and it contains 10 tracks with a running time about 50 minutes.

Bassist/vocalist Steev Esquivel of the veteran San Francisco Bay Area metallers SKINLAB has issued the following update:

"We've been in pre-production recording mode for the last few weeks. This will be the first time SKINLAB has ever spent so much quality time on pre-production. In the past our producers would show up a couple days early pror to recording and run through some ideas with us on arrangements, vocals and tones. This time around, we've taking a more hands-on approach with Snake [guitar] behind the board engineering and recording everything so it can all be heard played back and arranged, rearranged and ultimately thought out so we get the best out of each song." More...

South Florida's NONPOINT is currently on the road with MACHINE HEAD, HELLYEAH and BURY YOUR DEAD as part of the More Balls, More Volume, More Strength Tour.

NONPOINT drummer Robb Rivera has issued the following update:

"Man, are we exhausted. We are on our way to The Rock in Maplewood, MN to do show 16 of 20 shows in a row. Yes, I said 20 in a row! We are still going strong, though. Not even our rickety bones can stop us from playing these shows.

"The tour has been going amazing, All the bands are getting along and having a blast out here on the road.

"We have been friends with MACHINE HEAD and some of the HELLYEAH guys for a while. We just met the BURY YOUR DEAD crew on this tour and they have been really cool as well.

"As great as everything has been, a sad and tragic thing happened recently to our friend, MACHINE HEAD drummer, Dave McClain. Dave got unfortunate news that his mother had passed away and forced MACHINE HEAD to cancel their Green Bay show while Dave was on a flight to San Antonio to be with his family in such a tragic time. Please take a minute and visit MACHINE HEAD's MySpace and website and send your condolences to them. More...

"Pray", the new album from the German gothic metallers CREMATORY, has entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 64. The CD was produced by the band itself at the Kohlekeller Studios with additional assistance from longtime collaborator Christian "Kohle" Kohlmannslehner.

CREMATORY will embark on the "Pray Over Europe Tour 2008" in late March.

Jason Kobely of News10.net reports that a Sacramento man has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to making threats over the Internet to kill members of the rock band KORN, according to federal prosecutors.

Adrian McCoy, 23, entered the guilty plea in United States District Court in Sacramento Friday to a single count of making interstate threats to injure another, U.S. Attorney Michelle Rodriguez said.

According to investigators, McCoy sent threatening communications to the FBI's Web site in September 2007. In the email, McCoy threatened to kill members of the band, the band's family and FBI agents who responded to his acts of violence, Rodriguez said.

One of the most popular hard rock bands of the past decade, KORN has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and won two Grammy Awards.

McCoy faces a possible sentence of five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 25.

According to IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson, the group's concert in Tokyo, Japan tonight (Saturday, February 16) was filmed for an upcoming DVD. No further details are currently available.

IRON MAIDEN's June 10, 2007 headlining performance at the Download festival at Donington Park, Leicestershire, England was also professionally recorded for future DVD release. A clip from that show can be viewed below.

IRON MAIDEN's year got off to a roaring start with the February 4 international release of the band's long-awaited DVD "Live After Death" smashing straight into the UK music DVD chart at No. 1, not only outpacing its nearest competitor by three to one, but outselling the rest of the Top 6 combined!

Internationally it has been a similar story, with No. 1s in Australia (gold first day), France, Italy, Sweden, Spain, New Zealand, Denmark, Finland and Germany, where the DVD also spectacularly crashed into the Top 10 Album chart due to such unprecedented high sales. "Live After Death" also entered the music DVD charts at #2 in Portugal, Norway and Ireland and Top 3 entries from the USA and Canada. More...

Orlando metallers TRIVIUM are currently in pre-production for their new album, tentatively due before the end of the year via Roadrunner Records. The as-yet-untitled CD will be produced by Nick Raskulinecz, who has previously worked with FOO FIGHTERS, RUSH, VELVET REVOLVER, SHADOWS FALL, STONE SOUR and DEATH ANGEL, among others. Guitarist/vocalist Matt Heafy writes in an online posting, "20 songs recorded: 20. 20!!! We've NEVER recorded this many songs for an album ever 20!!! I mean hot damn! And these are all DEMOS. These have been the most extensive demos we have ever done, before we'd merely just do a quick demo of the songs we were to record for the upcoming album. This time we wrote it, re-wrote it, worked and arranged, recorded and re-recorded so it's gonna be good. Next step is for me to write the lyrics and vocals for the latest batch of 10 songs, record those then we'll have our producer come down and we will work out the kinks of all 20 tracks and wittle them down and pick the absolute best songs for the new album. Then? Actually do it. Haha. We're so happy with the new material. It's our strongest material to date; it encompasses everything that is TRIVIUM to the four of us and to our fans."

In a recent interview with Revolver magazine, TRIVIUM guitarist Corey Beaulieu stated about the upcoming CD, "We want to capture the best ingredients of everything we've done. Each song has a little bit of everything, going between something heavy and then melodic, and then back to something heavy. So it has a really interesting balance. On 'The Crusade', Matt did almost all singing, so this time we're bringing back some of the screaming that's on 'Ascendancy'."

"I'm also trying new things vocally," Heafy added. "Live, I've been able to really push the high vocal part of my range in the style of Rob Halford. So maybe I'll put some of that on the album."

The Metal Mayhem Collectors Series continues with the re-release of CANNON's Thunder And Lightning The German power metallers' album is being released 20 years after the original release on March 10th via Metal Mayhem Music in the USA. The album contains the nine original tracks, one bonus track, all lyrics and unpublished live and studio pics.

The original album - released in April 1988 - featured the following tracks: 'Lies', 'Stand The Fight', 'Fireblade', 'Nuclear Light', 'Evil Shadow', 'Thunder And Lightning', 'Heaven's On Fools Side', 'Rockamania', 'Metal Forever (M.E.T.A.L.)'.

NIGHTWISH received an ECHO award in Berlin, Germany last night (February 15th) for Band Of The Year in the category Rock / Alternative (International). The other nominees were KAISER CHIEFS, FOO FIGHTERS, WITHIN TEMPTATION and MARILYN MANSON.

Footage of Nightwish's playback performance at the ECHO Awards is available below. More...

‘Inflikted’: "It was the first lyric for the album. Back in 1992 I was in Indonesia with Iggor for SEPULTURA shows. There we visited this really crazy ritual with lot’s of fire and piercings – all very self inflicted. But while hurting themselves they didn’t feel the pain because they were tranced. I was very intrigued by this ritual. Because it’s me and Iggor now, I thought it cool to start the album with a track that’s based on such an old experience."

‘Sanctuary’: "I like about this song that it’s almost a NAILBOMB song. Very fast and straight forward. It rips your head of right away. The vocals are very aggressive – some people told me it might be my best vocals so far.I like that a lot. And the middle section is just fine. Marc Rizzo sings with 'everybody die tonite' in kind of a punk rock feeling. Old BIOHAZARD-style. And it’s the first video for the album."

‘Terrorize’: "Iggor’s drumbeat at the beginning is a very cool but simple groove from northern Brazil. It’s very ritualistic. I like the groove and the lines of the lyrics. It is dedicated to Jesse Pintardo of NAPALM DEATH and TERRORIZER, because Terrorizer is a huge influence for me."

Atlanta, Georgia based metallers, Jenovah, issue the following update on their Myspace page:

"Jenovah is taking a break for an unspecified period of time so we can consider our options and how we want to continue in the future."

"-Jenovah"

"On a personal note: Thanks to everyone who ever was, or is, a fan of Jenovah or Morionor. It's impossible to convey how much we appreciate your enthusiasm. I can say with 100% certainty that the support of our fans and friends is literally the one thing that kept this band together for so long."

SINNER, the veteran German metal oufit led by Mat Sinner (PRIMAL FEAR), is currently in pre-production for its new album, "Crash & Burn", due on September 19 via AFM Records. The CD will be recorded beginning in early April at the House Of Music Studios with Sinner and guitarist/vocalist Henny Wolter at the helm. The album will be engineered by Dennis Ward and will be mixed by engineer Achim Köhler at his Indiscreet Audio studio.

Commented Mat Sinner: "The pre-production of the new material is in full swing. We have already composed nine new songs for the album. 2-3 more songs will follow during the next couple of days. I have a great feeling about the songwriting and the vibe of the new songs. I've written songs together with Henny and more stuff with my friends Igor Gianola (U.D.O.) and Magnus Karlsson (ALLEN/LANDE) who joined my on my journey for the new SINNER album and we wrote some outstanding material in my studio. Here are some new songtitles: 'Heart Of Darkness', 'Crash & Burn', 'Connection', 'Break The Silence', 'Revolution', 'Like A Rock', 'Unbreakable', 'One Night Only' and 'The Dog'." More...

Wilmington, North Carolina-based rock/post-hardcore band HE IS LEGEND has parted ways with guitarist Mitch Marlow and replaced him with Worth Weaver (FRIENDS FOR HIRE). Marlow left the group after accepting an offer to join the recently reunited FILTER.

HE IS LEGEND is currently writing material for its third album, which the band plans to begin recording later this year.

The group released its second full-length CD, "Suck out the Poison", in October 2006 via Solid State Records.